Super Stylist

Her fly on the wall show, The Rachel Zoe Project has been recommissioned for a second series in the States and will be hitting the UK next month and on top of this she has been snapped up to design a clothing line. I would say that it must be pretty great to be Rachel Zoe right now. With a loving hubby, a die for wardrobe and a wonderful lifestyle; she is living the life that many would dream of. As stylist to actresses such as Debra Messing, Jennifer Garner and Joy Bryant, Rachel has become one of the most coveted name in fashion and is now a household name. However, people still get confused about what a stylist actually does. Some people think they just shop all day, pick out clothes and get chummy with the designers but the life of a stylist is a bit more complex than that. This is what journo and author, Tamsin Blanchard has to say about styling in an article about high profile stylist.

"Fashion stylists are the people who decide not so much what we are going to wear, but what we are going to buy. They choose the clothes on the pages of the magazines; they decide that Jennifer Lopez looks great in that Versace dress; they are the ones who select the clothes that will make it on to the runway and into the buyers' order books."

I did a bit of digging around and have come up with a list of five stylists whose work I rate:

William Baker

This is the man who puts Kylie in those sumptuous outfits. However take note because William Baker is far more than a stylist, he is in fact Creative Director to the princess of pop. His previous clients have included Vivienne Westwood where he worked on her flagship store.

Andrea Lieberman

She dresses two of the most stylish women in the world; Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez. She takes responsibility to introducing Ms Stefani to the world of style and I would call that some feat considering how renowned Stefani has become in fashion terms. She was also the very same person who put Jennifer Lopez in that plunging Versace gown which she wore to The Grammys which earned her many column inches. Her other clients are Drew Barrymore and Faith Hill.

Eric Daman

He has been dubbed the male version to Patricia Fields with those amazing outfits that he puts together in Gossip Girl. The story lines might be hotter than hot in GG but it is the fashion that has everyone talking and this is all down to a certain Mr Daman. The former model got his big break when he was discovered by Steven Meisel (as you do) who promptly booked him for a Calvin Klein advert. He then went onto to work as a costume designer on Sex and the City.

Philip Bloch

This is the man who dresses the Hollywood A lister for glitzy events such as The Oscars, The Golden Globes and The Emmys. Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Sandra Bullock, Salma Hayak, Will and Jada Pinkett all have Mr Bloch on speed dial. When he is not mixing with fashionistas Philip is either acting or contributing to various newspapers and magazines.

Christina Ehrlich and Estee Stanley

Their clients include Demi Moore, Jessica Biel, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Ritchie as well as The Olsen twins whose style are admired by young women all over the world. The duo are based in LA and have been working together for over five years. Their usp is putting starlets onto the red carpet and turning them into stars. Christina and Estee recently launched their own line, Ms Davenporte which is stylish and easy to wear items for women.

Funnily enough both Carine Roitfeld, editor of French Vogue and Katie Grand founder Pop magazine and now editor of Love magazine started out as stylists. So it goes to show that stylists rock! Check out this article here that was published in The Observer back in 2002 about stylists for fashion brands. Then there is this article here that features stylists who work in the music industry.

Farewell to The Fashionista Diaries

Sob, sob, The Fashionista Diaries is over. Finished, caput, done. The show came to a fantastic climax last Friday with all the teams preparing for New York Fashion Week. There were two shows, Just Sweet, a label that is owned by Jennifer Lopez who Flirt Cosmetics were doing the make up for and the main one, Charlotte Ronson which everyone was working towards. Bridget and Laurie who are just getting tighter by the minute were in charge of the goodie bags and collecting all the props to make the place look pretty. Our Rachel had the meaty job to interview people backstage for CosmoGirl.com while Andrew was given the task of quizzing Cosmo readers about their outfits and their personal style. Sounds like a pretty interesting job to me but Andrew was not happy with that and thought that his skills could have been put to better use. Meanwhile Janjay and Tina were backstage assisting the make up artists with all their needs. Both fashions show went exceedingly well, apart from a nail biting moment when Janjay forgot to bring the face chart for uber make up make up artist Charlotte Tillbury. However, the Gods must have been smiling down on that girl because a co-worker managed to run back to the office to get hold of the face chart in the nick of time. Of course Jennifer Lopez made an appearance at the end of her show which was full of A-line dresses and skirts in floral colours. Charlotte Ronson's collection was more slim line with lots of over the knee dresses and plenty of orange, grey and whites. Seeing the show was a culmination of all the assistants work and anyone who has worked on a big project can identify how all the fashionistas felt during the show. Everyone was very happy at end and full of smiles and I am even talking about Mandie! At the end of the fashion show she even came over and hugged Bridget and Laurie and thanked them for all their efforts. Awww, she is growing on me. The quintets spent the evening grooving at the after night party where Charlotte Ronson's sister, Samantha Ronson was DJing.

Ok, judgement day, this is where the fashionistas will be finding out who will be staying and who will be going. At the CosmoGirl headquarters it was a thanks but no thanks to Andrew. It seemed that Editor, Susan Schultz had a problem with his work and mentioned his missing deadlines. He got a pat on the back and was shown the door. It was totally different story for Rachel though, she impressed Susan so much that she was offered a position as a senior writer. Needless to say she was delirious. At Flirt Cosmetics , Tina was heaped with praise upon praise by Kathleen who then turned round and questioned her commitment to Flirt. I think Tina was just as shocked as I was, from what I have seen of the young Miss over the last 10 weeks, she seems to throw herself into everything she does. Janjay's evaluation ended with tears of joy as she landed her much coveted position at Flirt Cosmetics. She almost had me crying as well.

At Seventh House PR, Laurie was praised by Mandie and Mark for all her hard work but she commented that she felt the pressure to be another Bridget. Mandie replied that she never wanted her to be another Bridget and the world can only can take one Bridget. I agree totally. Now to the madam herself, she thanked Mandie for giving her the opportunity BUT turned down a position as a PR Manager because she has always wanted a career in magazines!! Mandie was gob smacked, I don't think anyone saw that one coming. Mandie promised to help her achieve her goals. Well there we are, the end of a scintillating 10 weeks of fun, tension, fall outs, glamour and fashion. So what next for the fashionistas? I can see Andrew finally finishing his designer line, Laurie getting snapped up by a PR company, Tina definitely getting a gig in cosmetics or PR and Bridget working on the fashion section of a magazine. It looks like my hour of pleasure is no longer but thank god that I still have Gossip Girl and bring on Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle.